an absolutley wonderful book! it has over seven thousand catogorised slang insults, wonderful cartoons by Dan Pearce. it has the dates for when the insultes were invended,.what part of the world they come from, what language they are and the meanings. it has a brilliantly designed, and it has a unique jacket.

Jonathon Greene presented in 1994 the ultimate summary of common sense and the most enchanting book I ever read in my life, titled : DICTIONARY OF CYNICAL QUOTATIONS". Since its contents are collected in the alphabetical order of all human troubles and problems, it is easy to find every day the most witty and cynical comments of ones daily problems. But after a while, having savoured the wit and concentrated philosophy on every single aspect of human life, sufferings and joys, the reader starts to admire more end more the unbelievable knowledge and experience of the author, who - in collecting the aphorisms, thoughts and spirits of all famous individuals and personalities of almost all nations, ages and professions - created a volume, which is absolutely unique. Since I am in the posession of this book, I spend every day some time with "Cynical quotations" reading or citing, and I feel genuinly enriched everytime I close the book after having consumated one or two of the quotations which contain the distillation of all human spirit.

this is quite an interesting book, as i am fascinated with death. perhaps knowing how one leaves the world makes death more familiar, especially in the case of suicide. read it, books like this are quaint and dainty, as the brits say.

If you, like me, live in a non english speaking country and love and teach the english language for a living, you definitely should have a copy of this book alongside a good regular dictionary. And even if english is your mother tongue you should get this book too. Of course all those swearing words are there but there is a lot more than that, there are plenty of cultural references in here that will help you to understand the origins of many terms so used on our daily lives and to discover how language adapts with time and space.

Very comprehensive, and as a amatuer linguist, this is one of my favorite word books (I have dozens). You will find entries here that you won't even find in the 20-volume Oxford-English Dictionary. Unquestionably the best book on slang out there. Some of the definitions tend to be short, but obviously this had to be done to allow for more entries. Some of the words though is does go into some depth and history, for instance the word 'sockdolager', it mentions it was one of last words Abe Lincoln heard, which used as adjective form as 'sockdolagizing' spoken by character Asa Trenchard in Tom Taylor play "Our American Cousin". This book is a great buy for book lovers, but as one reviewer stated, avoid giving to young kids due to some of the explicit nature of many of the words.

Reaching back into English for some centuries and reaching through English as it's written & spoken today in many nations, this dictionary offers what seems a unique guide to the use of words and more particularly, phrases, that I can't find defined in any other work. Indispensable for those who really want to understand exactly what they're reading.

While I respect the Californian reader's suggestion that potential buyers also consider two other slang dictionaries, I point out that Green's work goes far beyond only American usages. There's plenty here about English, New Zealand, Canadian, Australian, and other variants of English.

Nice touch: the editor's introduction comes complete with an e-mail address. Any reader who finds a usage that Jonathon Green doesn't know about, is free to send it in for future editions. But I personally find few usages that Jonathon Green doesn't know about.

Excellent work but, because of attention paid to "rude words", probably not a good gift for children.

The title is a bit of a joke because the book is actually quite small in the physical sense. Basically it is a list of words (primarily English language words) that seem to fit into a range of categories that can be general (male parts) or very specific (tasty terms). Some lists are set up as charts that focus on the play with one phrase or rhyme systems. The picture throughout could be funny or distracting depending on your personal taste -- I found them a bit of both. Once more we see that in the English language words relating to women's bodies and sexuality are fewer and less "active". It could be fun to read with friends but since no real definitions are offered for the terms, not very helpful to writers I think.

This is one of the funniest books I've picked up in a while. Its really just a listing of terminology and euphemisms for sexuality and the like. If you ever wanted to boost your dirty word list, here's your book.

I read a few reviews, one in particular complains that this isn't the best book on the subject, but I don't see any alternate choices listed. Ok, maybe this is or isn't THE definitive guide to the subject, but its pretty good, and pretty cheap.

Of all the odd and different books that are stored on my coffee table, this is by far the most popular pick. It's simply hilarious. And who can resist gaining the "knowledge" which it contains? A real winner for the fun at heart...

The famous bad-mouthing the infamous - or something like that!

This book is hugely interesting, uproariously funny, outrageously vulgar in places, but true to the spirit of 'tell it as it is'. After all, these ARE insulting quotations, so what do you expect?

Above all, you'll find quotations that are notable for their intelligent wit - like the book's cover, Churchill and Lady Astor...
Lady Astor: "If I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee."
Churchill: "If I were your husband, I would drink it."

And many others - often in less direct form:- "Prince Charles is an insensitive, hypocritical oaf and Princess Diana is a selfish, empty-headed bimbo. They should never have got married in the first place. I blame the parents." (Richard Littlejohn, British journalist).

My favourite is what one British politician said of another... "He's a shiver looking for a spine to run up."

The indexing is a little lax but otherwise, 'Insulting Quotations' is a must for any cynic's bookshelf.

More than anything else, this is a very enjoyable read. The surprisingly direct, pointed, unvarnished, and invariably insulting things said by the famous about the famous are absolutely fantastic. Credit to author Green's and publisher Cassell's courage for faithfully reproducing these quotations, despite racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophobic, and borderline vulgar content. But then again, these ARE insulting quotations, so what do you expect? Keep in mind that this is NOT a dictionary of curses and abuse, so these insulting quotations are notable for their intelligence, wit, and insight.

The quotations are limited almost exclusively to English (British) and American quotations. I don't remember any quotations specifically cited as having been translated. I think the book would gain depth from relevant foreign quotations.

The quotations are almost all modern, that is dating mostly from the 19th century. There are some older entries, such as from (English) King John, William Laud, Kings Richard II and II, etc. There are a few entries from antiquity (Plato, Aristophenes, St. John Chrysostom, etc.), but not as many as I would have expected. Although gone for a couple of thousand years, I am sure the ancient Romans and Greeks had plenty of unpleasant things to say about one another and other subjects which would still be relevant and amusing today.

Regarding this book as a reference, it could be slightly better organized. There is no table of contents, but the index is extensive, listing quotation sources/authors as well as applicable subject areas. It is well cross-referenced, with the primary entries being highlighted in the index in bold. Some additional work, to include listings for source descriptions and the content of quotes would perfect the index. Example: Oscar Wilde is credited in a quote as an "Irish author, playwright, and wit" but there is no listing for this particular quote under "Irish," "playwright," or "wit."

Be it Woody Allen or Voltaire you will find just the right quote to fit the occasion. A must have for speakers or fans of the irreverant.

Kojak with a Kodak is one of the obscure/ strange entries you can find in this "dictionary". While most of the terms are thoroughly researched and well explained, it is very difficult to find the words or frases due to the book's lack of a word index. If you want an EXCELLENT slang dictionary, purchase John Ayto's Oxford Slang. Now that is a great dictionary. But anyways , you will not be disappointed with Slang Through the Ages (if you can find it)

It's probably just me, but I had a hard time staying awake while reading this book, although I must admit my ears "pricked" up during the sections on slang. Green is an expert in this area, and his enthusiastic style belies the fact. The rest of the book was a bit less engaging. Hey, go ahead and get it anyway - it's only like ten bucks!

. . .the first fourteen chapters. . .gather in one place an enormous amount of interesting, useful information about (deceased) lexicographers and the dictionaries they prepared.

as reviewed by Laurence Urdang in the Winter 1997 issue (Vol. XXIII, No. 3) of VERBATIM, The Language Quarterly.

On the surface, dictionary-making seems like an unlikely subject for a history intended for anyone other than specialists to read. Yet Jonathon Green succeeds in leading the reader to appreciate, first, that dictionary-makers serve an important role as arbiters of the language we use to shape our lives, and second, that they are not "harmless drudges" (in Samuel Johnson's memorable phrase), but people with colorful, even strange, backgrounds.

Green has several objects in his history. One of the primary ones is to elevate the lexicographer from drudge to priest. He points particularly to America in the nineteenth century as a land where immigrants and lower-class people wanted to be told how to speak and write properly in order to advance in society. They looked to dictionaries and their makers as the arbiters of what counted as "correct" language. Green argues that America has generally tended toward prescriptive dictionaries, while England has been home to more descriptive efforts. He clearly sides with the latter, and his discussion of the controversy over Webster's Third International (which took a more descriptive approach than most American dictionaries) with barely disguised disbelief -- how could people have been so silly? Still, his editorializing is relatively subtle -- and convincing.

Another of Green's goals is to present the people behind the dictionaries. In the modern world, dictionaries are identified by their publishers -- the American Heritage, the OED, the Merriam-Webster -- and the people involved vanish into anonymity. This was not always the case, as Green makes clear. Dictionaries from the sixteenth century onward were known by their authors, despite the fact that the dictionaries drew on (and, frankly, plagiarized) each other. The authors did not shy from letting their personalities and biases show through. What is more, they and their modern successors led unusual lives, shaped by the near-fanaticism that lexicography seems to require. Green shows us these characters, from the cash-strapped but elitist Samuel Johnson, to James Murray, long in charge of the OED, with his vast arrays of cubbyholes and contributors (including an inmate of the Broadmoor insane asylum!).

Green's history is very readable, if sometimes more detailed than necessary; he tends to throw more names at the reader than anyone could possibly keep straight. Still, the book should be fascinating for anyone with a love of words and a curiosity about unusual people.